RAAF ww2 bomber found in PNG
Sun Jun 29, 2008 3:14 am
Sun Jun 29, 2008 4:58 am
Lets hope they're able to bring the airmen home at long last.
SN
SN
Sun Jun 29, 2008 7:27 am
not even the tip of the iceberg in that remote jungle country. there are still areas to this day that are uncharted or yet to have seen human presence.
Sun Jun 29, 2008 2:30 pm
I read somewhere once that there are more aircraft listed as missing in New Guinea than the rest of the world combined. That's some pretty rugged country, and those jungles can easily just swallow up an aircraft without a trace.
A few years ago I read a book called (I think) "One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing." It chronicled the discovery of a B-24 wreck in NG, that had flown into a mountainside in a rain forest. Not only were they able to find some of the remains of the crew, the lab in Hawaii was able to pin down which bits (obviously just bone fragments) came from which crewmember. Amazingly, most of the ID work was done with forensic anthropology..they only had to resort to DNA for a couple of them. They were actually able to give each family of the crewmembers something to lay to rest.
SN
A few years ago I read a book called (I think) "One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing." It chronicled the discovery of a B-24 wreck in NG, that had flown into a mountainside in a rain forest. Not only were they able to find some of the remains of the crew, the lab in Hawaii was able to pin down which bits (obviously just bone fragments) came from which crewmember. Amazingly, most of the ID work was done with forensic anthropology..they only had to resort to DNA for a couple of them. They were actually able to give each family of the crewmembers something to lay to rest.
SN
Sun Jun 29, 2008 10:25 pm
Good find, hope they can find the crew, looks quite broken up though
Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:48 am
my dad fought in new guinea as an infantry rifle company commander. sometimes they had to leave the dead & mark the trail where the corpse was left so they could retrieve it upon return from patrol. the patrols would last for days. often they couldn't find it, the jungle foliage grows that fast. just think of the warbirds still sitting out their in all that fast growing jungle to this day.
Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:52 am
tom d. friedman wrote:my dad fought in new guinea as an infantry rifle company commander. sometimes they had to leave the dead & mark the trail where the corpse was left so they could retrieve it upon return from patrol. the patrols would last for days. often they couldn't find it, the jungle foliage grows that fast. just think of the warbirds still sitting out their in all that fast growing jungle to this day.
There must be hundreds if not thousands of wrecks still out there. Sadly you gotta deal with the local governments!
I can only imagine what treasures one could find....